Author CAROLINE ARNOLD's travel blog--a writer's journeys around the world

Monday, May 14, 2018

SIX DAYS IN LONDON, Part 1: Guest Post by Paige Arnold

Tower Bridge, London, England

My granddaughter Paige, age 12, spent six days in London with her parents during her spring break and kept a diary of her daily activities (a family tradition.) She has written them up in this blogpost. I am impressed with the number of things they did and the detail of her report. I thank her for her excellent writing! Part 2 will post next week.

My first day in London was very nice. We rented
an apartment near the London Bridge, which is in a very nice neighborhood.
It’s close to the tallest building in the U.K., the Shard.

The Shard, London's tallest building, was designed by Renzo Piano and is 1016 feet tall

We walked around a bit, and ate dinner at a
pub called “The Garrison Public House.” They had some classic English
food like mushy peas and fish and chips.It was great food.Before that we walked across the Tower Bridge, which is one
of the many bridges crossing the River Thames.

Fresh juice at the Borough Market

The second day, we went to the Borough Market. It’s a
big market with many stands selling a variety of foods such as meat, fresh
produce, and baked goods. To have lunch, we went to somewhere called Fish! in the market.There was lots of seating and great food.
They even gave me and my dad a napkin and a little bowl of water with a slice of lemon in it, just in case we had greasy fingers from our lunch.

Tower of London

Later that day, we went to the London Dungeons.It was around 80% fun haunted-house-like and
20% historical.It was fun, and there was
a water roller coaster in the middle of the tour. They went over many
subjects, such as the torture methods, the plague, and murderers.It was very realistic and neat to go through.Also, the tour guides were very good at
acting.For dinner, we went to a
restaurant named Sartoria. It
was really fancy and the food was super great and rich.The only problem was that it took a really
long time for us to leave because they forgot to give us our check.

At the Olympic swimming pool

On the third day, we went to the Olympic complex to swim. They have three pools: a competition pool, a training pool, and a
recreation pool. They are all very nice, and the competition pool has a
good depth.Afterwards, I went outside
into the enormous park to draw people.

Climbing wall in park outside Olympic Complex

There was a playground, a climbing
wall, and it was right next to a river which had boats you could rent.Right across the river, there was West Ham
United. We spent around 1 hour 30 minutes there, and then went home.

Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theater, London

That night, we went to Wicked, which was playing in the theater district.It’s kind of like the prequel to the Wizard of Oz that shows the Wicked Witch
of the West’s backstory. But, it was shown in a different format, with
her going to high school.It lasted
about two hours, with a 15 minute intermission in the middle.Before that, we went to an Indian restaurant
called Simply Indian.The food there was the best Indian food I
have ever tasted, even though it was just this little hole in the wall place on
a side street.

High Tea at Sketch

For the fourth day, we went to this place called Sketch for high tea. It’s a modern
restaurant with art posted all around where you eat.They had really nice plates and cups and
things that said random stuff on them. For example, forget about it was
written on the bottom of each teacup, ghosts was written on all the
teapots, and it’s ok and it’s not ok were written on the sides
of the little sugar bowl.

Egg bathroom at Sketch. Inside
each individual egg, forest music was playing.

But the coolest part of the restaurant was
the bathroom. Both the men and the women went through a door; then there
was this giant fat egg thing in the middle of two curved staircases. Oh,
and the whole bathroom (including the stairs and the giant fat egg) was pure
white.The women went up the staircase
on the right, while the men went up the staircase on the left. Then comes
the most interesting part.The toilets
were inside eggs.There was a cluster of
about 8-10 eggs on both sides.

National Portrait Gallery

After that, we went to the National Portrait Gallery.They had a lot of portraits of kings such as
King Charles II and King Edward VII.For
dinner, we went to a pub called Trinity.They had some very interesting food. My
dad ordered whitefish fries, which we thought were deep fried pieces of
whitefish, but they were entire fried mini-whitefish!My mom ordered fish and chips, which came
with the fish’s skin and scales on.Overall, the food was good. I had a good time.

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As I travel, I want to know: When people like me go there, What do they do? Where do they eat? What do they like best? What are some of their favorite places, both on and off the beaten track? Here is a random selection of MY travel experiences--and a few from my friends--both current and from the past. (All links are up-to-date.) Perhaps they will answer some of YOUR burning questions or inspire your next trip. Enjoy!

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About Me

I like to think of myself as a Lonely Planet traveler without the backpack. (Translation: I like vacation spots that are off the beaten track but I’m willing to get there in a rented car and stay in a comfortable hotel.) I like trips to remote or unusual places especially if they feature wildlife, ancient history, cultural events, opportunities for hiking or other outdoor activities. Sometimes I am an accidental tourist, a result of my own or my husband’s business travel. I am a children’s book author and travel for research and to speak at schools and conferences. (Go to www.carolinearnold.com or www.carolinearnoldart.blogspot.com for more about my books and art.) My husband is a scientist and international meetings have provided the starting point for trips. Sometimes my destination is chosen because of family connections. And sometimes I simply choose a place because I have never been there before. I have always kept a diary when I travel (long before blogs were invented) and written the occasional article about my trips. Some of those articles and diary entries (heretofore unpublished) will be posted here. I will also post comments on my current and recent travel.

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